Receipt Check: Epilogue

Originally I had written up my experience at Best
Buy to share with friends but was urged by several to forward a copy of
this to Best Buy. So I did:

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 02:12:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Aaron Hopkins
To: betsybuy@bestbuy.com, domain.admin@bestbuy.com, job@bestbuy.com,
moneytalk@bestbuy.com
Subject: Best Buy Receipt Check
A story about my experience at Best Buy today. This isn't a necessarily a
complaint, I was just hoping to get one of you to forward this to top-level
management in your company.
---
[Copy of story deleted]
Aaron Hopkins
Chief Technical Officer
Cyberverse, Inc.

And was pleased to hear that my request wasn't ignored:

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 08:46:24 -0600
From: "Williams, Marilyn" <Marilyn.Williams@BestBuy.com>
To: Aaron Hopkins
Subject: RE: Best Buy Receipt Check
On behalf of Best Buy, I apologize for the unfortunate experience you had at
one of our stores. And thank you for taking the time to write of your
concern. As you requested, I will be forwarding your message to management
for their review.
Marilyn Williams
Investor Relations
Phone: (612) 947-2621
Fax: (612) 430-4181

I found their longer response somewhat lacking, though:

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 12:33:32 -0600
From: "cr@bestbuy.com Inbox" <crbestbuy.comInbox@BestBuy.Com>
To: Aaron Hopkins
Subject: Reply to Mr. Hopkins' 12/21/99 email
Mr. Hopkins:
Thank you for investing the time and effort to contact Best Buy corporate
headquarters. I was sorry to hear the level of service you received from
our store failed to meet your expectations. I can certainly understand your
frustration. Best Buy strives to provide courteous and accommodating
service for every customer. Whether it is our service at the point of
purchase or our post sale service, our company has a constant commitment to
ensuring our customers' Best Buy experience is an enjoyable one. However,
unfortunate incidents like yours may sometimes occur that do not always
reflect these positive intentions.
Best Buy does not condone or tolerate behavior on the part of its employees
that creates an intimidating, hostile or threatening environment. However,
as I'm sure you are aware, loss prevention is a concern of every major
retailer. Best Buy has implemented a policy of verifying purchases by
checking receipts. I assure you however that this policy is applied in an
impartial manner and is not meant to cast aspersions on any individual Best
Buy customer. Nevertheless, please accept my apologies if loss prevention
personnel were less than professional in observing this policy during your
recent visit to our store.
Please be assured that Best Buy is working together on all levels of the
company to evaluate and re-define our definitions of good customer service.
I trust your feedback will enable us to enhance overall customer
satisfaction in the future.
I would like to offer an apology on behalf of Best Buy for the inconvenience
and frustration you have experienced as a result of your concern. Hopefully
the issues detailed in your message will not change your opinion of our
company as a whole. We certainly do appreciate your patronage and would
welcome the opportunity to serve you again in the very near future.
Arturo Sanchez
Consumer Relations
Internet Correspondence
Best Buy Corporate Headquarters

This person addressed my emotions without actually touching on any of the
issues that I raised. I didn't want to be soothed condescendingly.

In the year after I put this story up, I'd received a few dozen pieces of
e-mail, either congratulating me for standing up for myself or offering
their own stories of difficult shopping experiences at Best Buy.

But I finally got an interesting answer from a Best Buy employee. As he was
speaking for himself, I removed his identifying information. It is not
my intention to get him in trouble for posting this, though I think it
deserves to be read by more people than just me.

Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 12:01:47 -0600
From: [Name deleted]
To: Aaron Hopkins
Subject: from a lackey
I got a copy of your story the other day at work, and just read the
Best Buy response, which seemed a bit lacking as you said. It addressed
your feelings without touching on the issues. I'll try to do that for
you.
First off, I scanned the UCC and found nothing specifically relating
to a merchant's right, or lack thereof, to verify a purchase. Perhaps
you are more familiar with the Code than I, and know of the specific
articles and parts. If so, please let me know. My hunch is that Best
Buy has a bunch of highly paid lawyers who are familiar with the Code,
and they probably assured our legal safety here. That said, Best Buy's
policy on receipt verification is basically this: check large box stock
items, such as computers, appliances, furniture, etc...Any merchandise in
bags is free to go. If you want to avoid the guy at the door at Best
Buy, ask that your items be bagged. I know that's not the ideal answer,
but it will get you out the door.
In dealing with the larger issue of why we verify receipts, I will
ask a question: Have you ever worked retail sales? How long ago? The
unpleasant reality facing retailers today is that "the customer" will
lie, cheat, and steal at the slightest opportunity. They will invent
fairy tales in attempts to get lower prices, and if you have the gall to
debate their logic, they will insult, threaten, and even assault you.
This Christmas we had a customer, a 39 year old, 6-2 200lb man, grab a 16
year old slip of a female cashier by the front of her shirt, pull her
across the counter to his face, and scream at her because she would not
honor an ad price that had been out of effect for two weeks. I
personally had a customer, an intelligent, middle-aged man, tell me that
a sign I had made ($9.99 after $5.00 mail-in-rebate) was misleading. I
could go on, but I won't. Simply put, that is "the customer". All the
old sayings about "the customer being the reason we're here", etc...don't
apply as much as you might like them to. The reality is that customers
don't come to Best Buy because they want to do their part to keep us in
business. They want to buy a computer and they come to Best Buy because
we have a lower price than Circuit City. That may be simplifying things
a bit, but it illustrates the fact that "the customer" will put up with a
lot to save 10% How else do you explain the continued existence of
Kmart?
It is because of these facts that , while we try to serve the
customer, we must take steps to protect ourselves from "the customer" It
is distasteful to be sure, but if we didn't do it one of two things would
happen: we would have to raise prices to compensate or we would soon go
out of business. Kmart doesn't protect itself the way Best Buy does and
each store loses about 5% of its sales to theft and waste. At my Best
Buy a similar level of inefficiency would be about $5,000,000 in loss.
As it is, we'll lose about $120,000. I'm sure there was an uproar when
stores first began to run personal checks through the various time
consuming verification systems, but people soon grasped the truth that
other people write bad checks and stores had a reasonable right to
protect themselves from that. Receipt verification follows a similar
logic. The attitude of "How dare they? Do I look like a thief" comes my
way in a lot of the people I check off, and I sense a bit of that in
you. Frankly, it's a natural reaction. But, just as we cannot tell a
bogus check writer by looks, we cannot differentiate shoplifters either.
I'll finish with a few random statements. First, the act of parking
behind you could be considered detainment, since it prevented you from
leaving the premises by your own choosing. In addition, it was a
violation of Best Buy's policy of not "chasing" even known shoplifters
into the parking lot. As far as calling the police if you didn't produce
a receipt, that's complete BS, and next time they threaten that
call their bluff. That WOULD constitute detainment. There's a tort in
there, although I'd be hard pressed to give you the legal description. I
hope you pursue it, because these people's actions reflect poorly on me
and my colleagues. Second, as far as your wait in the store, I could give
you the facts about 4 days before Christmas and a strong labor
market, but I imagine you don't want to hear that any more than the
customers at my store did. All you and they know is that we are
intentionally wasting your valuable time, and you're more important than
all the other customers anyway. Third, your repeated allusions to a
believed diminished mental capacity of Best Buy employees ("clearly
baffling to the poor fellow", "Best Buy lackeys") are erroneous,
insulting, and probably the reason you didn't get the desired response
from Best But corporate. Most employees are college students or
graduates, and I assure you that there are as many employees at your
store who are of greater intelligence than you as are of lesser. You
would do well to remember that fact in future shopping endeavors.
Finally, you will probably be surprised to hear that receipt verification
saves customers far more money that it does Best Buy. Ask the customer
who yesterday almost drove home two hours without $1100.00 in computer
equipment because he didn't know that the cashier had divided his large
purchase into two carts. Or the customer a few weeks ago who bought a
DVD player but was charged for two. Nevermind the cashier, but how do
you not notice when your $200 item totals out the $450? Receipt
verification is in place to ensure that the customer gets exactly what
they paid for, nothing more and nothing less.
I don't expect that any of my efforts will ease your righteous
indignation. These days that seems to be and end unto itself. I only
hope that I've given you some insight into why the shopping experience at
all stores had declined over the past few years. I also must put in the
I don't speak for Best Buy, including my citations and descriptions of
Company policies.
[Signature and store # deleted]

The writer takes offense to my derogatory remarks about the Best Buy
employees I encountered. I find this strange, as he then suggests that I
take legal action against them because they reflect poorly on him. They, in
fact, were acting stupidly and attempting to intimidate me, and they did
fail to understand my explanation at the time. My choice of words still
seems correct.

As for the lack of a mention of purchase verification in the Uniform
Commercial Code, he is correct. Though I am certainly not a lawyer and have
not retained one to research relevant statutes and case law for me, it is my
belief that an item that I purchase becomes my property and therefore is
mine to do with as I please as soon as I would be subjected to the store's
return policy for it. This is the case when the cash register closes or the
credit card transaction completes.

If this is true, then the only method available to legally prevent me from
moving as I choose out of the store would be to detain me for shoplifting.
I would've welcomed this, actually, as it would've been fun to sue Best Buy
for false arrest.

In order to insulate themselves from unfortunate civil
suits such as this, many merchants have adopted six rules for their security
personnel that guarantee having "probable cause":

You must see the shoplifter approach the merchandise

You must see the shoplifter select the merchandise

You must see the shoplifter conceal or convert the merchandise

You must maintain continuous observation of the shoplifter

You must observe the shoplifter fail to pay for the merchandise

You must apprehend the shoplifter outside the store

An employee failing to meet any one of these criteria is supposed to let the
suspect go. A door guard will never meet these criteria, and therefore will
never actually accuse anyone of shoplifting just for not letting him look
through their belongings. He's there to create duress,
giving the impression that you are not free to leave unless you let him
search you.

I completely understand why a merchant would be interested in searching
everyone leaving the store. It makes great financial sense. I just don't
happen to let them, and they can't do much about it. As I am not
particularly price sensitive, I prefer to pay slightly more and not
be intimidated every time I shop. Thus I choose to not return to stores
that are aggressively enforcing this particular policy.

I've only had a few
bad experiences in the years I've been ignoring door guards, and I think the
time I've saved in not standing in line again to leave the stores has more
than made up for them.

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2002 17:19:19 -0600
From: Emily Spurrier
To: Aaron Hopkins
Subject: a response from someone at corporate level.
Dear Aaron:
I work within the Consumer Relations department that had originally
written you 3 years ago. As a matter of fact, I was working in that
department when Mr. Sanchez replied to you and I know Mr. Sanchez
personally. I understand that his reply sounds 'canned' and perhaps I
can shed some light on why bags are checked when personnel leave the
store premises.
Please bear in mind that it is not discriminatory nor is it always random
however. You will many times see grocery stores that will put 'tape' on
a product that has already been checked out and paid for when the item
cannot be bagged or cannot fit in a bag. Best Buy does not have this
system and in order to verify the purchase, the Loss Prevention
specialist MUST check the receipt to verify that the item has been paid
for.
If we were to NOT check the receipts what do you think that would
invite? How would we control situations where people have this open
option to leave the store with a high-ticket item and not pay for it? No
wonder KMart has closed so many stores now. Refer to the other
employee's email.
Your television had no identifying mark on it to assure our loss
prevention employees that the item had been paid for. That's all their
checking and it's not an invasion of privacy, legally. Not allowing a
loss prevention employee to verify this only sends up a red flag.
However, I agree that the store employees were wrong by what you
described by chasing you and blocking you. I believe they should have
explained why they needed to view the receipt and assure you that it's
not an accusation.. only a verification. I believe anyone who's worked
in retail can at least understand that.
Emily S.

If I were to walk up to you on the street and ask to see the cell phone you
were carrying, this may be a little strange but is not illegal. Giving you
the impression that I wasn't going to let you leave until you showed it to
me might be illegal. Preventing you from leaving definitely would be
illegal, unless perhaps I was accusing you of stealing it from me.

Similarly, a Best Buy employee asking to see an item I am carrying is not
illegal. Suggesting that they might not let me leave until I show it to
them might be illegal. Physically preventing me from leaving the store
would definitely be illegal, unless they were choosing to accuse me right
then of a crime to hold me under citizen's arrest.

Merchants have no special privilege to search every customer who walks out
the door, as far as I and the lawyers who have responded to my story have been
able to find. The process is completely voluntary. As such, Best Buy's loss
prevention personnel are free to ask me to show my receipt, and I am free to
refuse. Which is exactly what I did.

The practice of checking receipts is relatively new. People have been
interacting with each other in markets for centuries without it. However,
I'm not even suggesting that the practice of checking receipts be stopped.
I was just trying to recommend that loss prevention personnel receive
better training as to what exactly the limitations of their rights are; to
avoid legal exposure, they need to let non-complying customers exit freely
unless they are prepared to accuse them of a crime.

I'm not the only person in the US who doesn't enjoy being treated like a
criminal and searched every time I go shopping. I'm also not the only
person aware that the checking of receipts is voluntary or who would be
interested in seeing what a court thinks of the false arrest involved in
mandatory receipt checks.

Certainly grabbing my cart, surrounding me with a half-dozen guys, and
parking a car behind mine to were all working on giving me the impression
that I was not free to leave until I submitted to the store policy. And at
least one lawyer has suggested that the line for false-arrest was crossed in
this case.

Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 00:00:44 -0800
From: David Huang
To: Aaron Hopkins
Subject: Best Buy
Aaron,
Thanks for sharing your story of Best Buy door nazis. I was also a victim
of this today, the Best Buy security refuse to let me leave the store unless
I showed him my receipt and PHYSICALLY BLOCKED ME FROM LEAVING. Told him I
did not have to present a receipt and asked for a manager... showed the
manager my police ID... and told him that the next time anyone does that,
they'll be in handcuffs for violation of California Penal Code section 236,
False Imprisonment. I recommend all your readers do the same. They have no
legal right to force you to show a receipt.
In retrospect, I should of called the police and said that I was being held
against my will... and that I wanted the security guard to be arrested.
I smell a class action soon....

I'd participate in a lawsuit if it comes to that, but my hope is that a
successful suit isn't the only way to get security
staff familiar with the idea that they have no legal right to search their
customers. By spreading the word that it is okay to politely refuse to be
searched when exiting stores, I stand a chance of not being the first person
to do so when I visit a new store.

My assumption is that the security guards
don't understand that they can't force their customers to submit to a search
because they've never dealt with it before. If they ran into at least once
per week, they might have a very different attitude.

Many comments on this story can be found at digg.com,
consumerist.com,
dailykos.com,
and various blogs.
Whether they are interested in skipping receipt checks or not, most people
are happy to discover that the process is voluntary and optional.

While this story is about my experience at Best Buy, I'll only reply to and
post e-mail about Best Buy if it adds a new perspective on the practice of
receipt checking. If you are looking for a forum for general complaints
about the company, check out
ihatebestbuy.com.